Seles trounces Rubin in Madrid final

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Monica Seles routed Chanda Rubin 6-4, 6-2 Saturday to claim her 53rd career singles title at the Madrid Open.

Seles, who went into the tournament ranked sixth on the WTA tour, defeated the 65th-ranked Rubin in 1 hour and 7 minutes in the all-American final.

Seles and Rubin stayed even for the first eight games before Seles broke Rubin's service and claimed the last two games to take the first set. Seles quickly took control in the second, reaching a 4-0 advantage before Rubin recovered, too late to come back.

The second set lasted just 29 minutes.

After the match, Seles denied she had plans to retire after the French Open, but didn't rule out stopping within the coming year.

"It's been said that I was thinking about retiring this season," she said. "It's was already said after the Australian open and it will be said again after Roland Garros. But I will keep playing as long as I enjoy myself on the courts. Maybe I'll stop this year, maybe not."

Despite her victory in Spain, Seles said she had no illusions about how hard the French Open would be next week.

"A Grand Slam is always different," she said, according to the Spanish news agency Efe. "Roland Garros will be another story because there are many matches and it's very tiring. But it's one of my favorite competitions and I'm not afraid."

Seles reached the final in Madrid after beating Paola Suarez of Argentina in a rocky three-set match Friday that she called the "toughest of the week."

The victory came at Seles' sixth Madrid Open. The Yugoslav-born player won the tournament 10 years ago and reached the final again in 1997.

Seles, the tournament's favorite, won her second tournament this year after a victory in Qatar against Tamarine Tanasugarn.

Rubin reached the final after downing Colombian Fabiola Zuluaga in straight sets.

Rubin, who recently recovered from a knee injury, won the Madrid Open two years ago in a final against Zuluaga, but hasn't won a tournament since 2000.

 

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